China pledges continued support for European integration

By Sun Tianren from People’s Daily-Mareeg.com-Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi pledged on Wednesday that China will continue to support European integration, in a hope to see a more united, stable and prosperous EU. Experts agreed with Wang’s statement, saying that China’s proposition on European integration is an encouraging news for EU.

“The EU was the first regional cooperation mechanism established after the end of the World War II, and it’s also the one that has developed the fastest,” Wang added at a press conference on the sidelines of the ongoing annual session of the National People’s Congress in Beijing.

“Contrary to conventional wisdom, we believe the challenges currently confronting the EU may turn out to be an opportunity for the EU to become more mature,” the minister stressed.

He made the statement when asked to comment on the EU’s future, China-Europe cooperation, Chinese investment in Europe amidest a possible follow suit of other European countries after the Brexit as well as this year’s more elections in the region.

“We set store by Europe’s strategic position and important role,” Wang reassured the concerns, vowing that China will work with Europe to advance the partnerships for peace, growth, reform and civilization.

China will, together with Europe, respect and address each other’s legitimate concerns and promptly remove obstacles to cooperation, to practice multilateralism and move toward a multi-polar world, and to re-energize the world economy, improve global governance and ensure the healthy development of economic globalization, he added.

Scholars said that against the current sluggish world economy and the rising tide of de-globalization, many countries are introspecting their national and global governance.

Given the background, an intensified China-Europe collaboration will push the world order towards opener cooperation, they added.

Italian geopolitical analyst Fabrizio Franciosi believed that China’s support on European integration, coming as the process is threatened by ridden crisis, is definitely an encouraging news for the EU.

The EU and China are now closer than ever, said David Gosset, an international relations expert and founder of the Euro-China Forum, adding that China has become the largest trading partner of Germany in 2016.

“The EU and China share extensive common interests as both of them uphold multilateralism, hope to develop a mutually beneficial trade and understand the importance of a boosted global governance,” the French expert added.

Sun Yanhong, associate researcher of the Institute of European Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said that over the past two years, China’s ties with each European country propelled and drove each other.

“In this process, China always regards Europe as a whole, and takes its deepened relationship with each member as an organic part of the overall China-Europe ties,” the researcher added.